Disability Policy Insurance Cases

If you have been denied benefits under a disability insurance policy, it is important that you have an experienced, committed and aggressive lawyer to represent you. Insurance companies and their lawyers are skilled at trying to exploit every possible exception, exclusion and basis to deny the payment of disability benefits. When you need a Nashville disability policy lawyer to assist you, Pepper Law, PLC can provide you with experienced and aggressive representation. The firm’s lawyers handle cases not only in Nashville, but throughout Tennessee.

Insurance companies often rely on broadly defined "preexisting condition" exclusion provisions in disability policies to deny disability benefits. Sometimes, they claim that an insured can still do his or her job when the insured cannot. In some disability insurance policies, insurance companies have built in contractually enforceable time deadlines for making claims and filing lawsuits that can trap unwary policyholders and prevent them from recovering based on technical time deadlines.

Insurance companies, and their lawyers, often hire and rely upon doctors who conduct purported "independent medical examinations." These independent medical examinations are anything but independent, honest or fair. They are often conducted by doctors who do not practice medicine, but who work exclusively for insurance companies, for exorbitant fees, to produce alleged independent medical examinations which insurance companies use to deny disability benefits.

Insurance companies also frequently ignore the fact that the effects of a disabling condition or injury can vary in frequency and intensity. They will take information in medical records, and other information, out of context and evaluate a claimant based on what he or she can do on his or her best days while ignoring the overall, often devastating, effect the disability has on the claimant’s ability to earn the same amount which was earned pre-disability.

In addition to having a breach of contract case against an insurance company which has denied the payment of disability benefits, a person holding a disability policy (an insured) may have causes of action and legal claims for bad faith failure to pay. Evaluating and adding bad faith claims to disability lawsuits is important for those who have been denied benefits because those claims can allow an insured to recover additional compensation as a penalty. When you need a Nashville disability policy lawyer experienced with handling bad faith claims, Pepper Law, PLC can help.

One strategy of insurance companies in disability cases is to make the litigation as lengthy and as protracted as possible so that more pressure is placed on the person who has been denied benefits to settle for less than what he or she is entitled to under the disability policy. This strategy is used to force a policyholder into a financial situation where he or she must settle for less than a fair amount. When we represent a client in a disability insurance case, we act aggressively to prevent the insurance company and its lawyers from delaying the case to attempt to "starve out" our client.

The Nashville disability attorneys at Pepper Law, PLC take disability cases governed by ERISA, which most disability policies obtained through employment are, as well as cases involving disability insurance policies purchased directly by individuals. We recognize that, if you have a disability claim, you may need representation on a contingency fees basis whereby you do not have to pay us any fee unless and until we recover money for you. We take many disability insurance policy cases on a contingency fee basis.

There are deadlines by which disability claims must be made and by which appeals and lawsuits for disability benefits must be filed. If you have a disability claim, you should not delay in seeking the advice of a disability insurance lawyer.

The Nashville disability lawyers at Pepper Law, PLC are skilled and experienced trial lawyers. Since the firm’s disability practice is not, like many, a volume practice, our lawyers have the time to prepare your case fully for trial and to try it, when that is necessary to obtain an optimal recovery.

Ross Pepper is indeed a "lawyer's lawyer." He quickly gets to the heart of the matter and does not waste time on trifles. His knowledge of the attorneys on the opposing side and the judge hearing our matter gave me comfort. Ron Erickson Chairman and CEO eCharge Corporation

★★★★★

Mr. Pepper did such a thorough job that I never had to go to trial. He obtained an excellent settlement for me and one that was far more than what was originally offered. Kenneth Casey President KHCV TV Seattle, Washington